• Tutorial actions at KU stay suspended since Feb 1.
• Examinations have additionally postponed on account of protest.
• KUTS protesting over the annulment of a variety board.

KARACHI: The protest of the University of Karachi’s instructing and non-teaching workers has entered its seventh day, with educational actions on the province’s greatest academic institute remaining suspended since Feb 1.

Variations emerged between Sindh universities and boards division’s secretary Mureed Rahimo and the Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) when the latter declared the choice board null and void throughout a gathering for the appointment of professors in three departments of the varsity a number of days again.

As per the teachers affiliation, Mureed Rahimo misbehaved with the KU vice-chancellor and different senior teachers of the college through the choice board assembly. They demanded of the involved authorities to take away Rahimo from the submit.

“The protest will be extended to other universities of Sindh if demands are not accepted,” warned the teachers.

Tutorial actions will stay suspended within the college until their calls for are usually not fulfilled, the protesters added.

“The autonomy of the KU has been attacked by refusing the bylaws of the varsity,” said the teachers.

Examinations have also been postponed at the university due to the teachers’ protest.

The teachers’ stance

On January 31, the Karachi University Teachers Society (KUTS) observed the black day at the varsity and has been boycotting the classes since then.

Later on February 3, the teachers’ body convened its general meeting in the Arts Auditorium and announced that the boycott would continue indefinitely as the secretary’s attitude was not acceptable.

In the general meeting, office holders of the KUTS had expressed that the selection board for the appointment of Dr Zafar Iqbal Shams in the environment department, which was summoned on the orders of the Sindh High Court, was cancelled by the universities and boards department in clear violation of court orders.

The body had announced that the boycott of teaching activities would continue till the selection board was convened.

The KUTS had also demanded the replacement of the incumbent universities and boards secretary with a competent bureaucrat who knew the University Act.

The meeting had urged the administration of the varsity to complete the process of the selection board within three months and conclude within 15 days the process of scrutiny of applicants who had applied for selection under a 2019 advertisement.

KUTS President Prof Dr Shah Ali Ul Qader told The News that the secretary had zero knowledge of the varsities.

He had added that the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association’s (Fapuasa) Sindh chapter has convened a meeting on February 8 to discuss the issue of selection boards for the public sector universities in the province.

“We might extend our protest to other universities of Sindh if our demands are not fulfilled.”

He had clarified that the KU was not selling teachers by the choice board.

“When the varsities advertise any post in newspapers, it means they call applicants from outside and inside to ensure merit. This selection board was formed for three departments under the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan’s rules.”

The choice board was constituted by the KU for the environmental science division underneath an commercial revealed in 2019 and for the meals science and zoology departments underneath a 2014 commercial.

The secretary’s response

Sindh Universities and Board Secretary Mureed Rahimo told The Information the KU needed to summon the choice board underneath an commercial that was revealed in 2014.

There needs to be a deadline for the structure of the choice board after an commercial has been revealed, the secretary had stated as he requested how the varsity may do a variety on the premise of an advert that appeared round a decade earlier.

Rahimo had maintained that the validity of such commercials expired after six months as per the University Act. Nevertheless, he didn’t point out the particular clause of the regulation which states this.

“I simply say the advertisement for the selection board must be re-published so that outsider applicants could participate in the selection process, and we could ensure merit. Secondly, the varsity should seek prior permission from the government before constituting a selection board,” the secretary had stated.